It was one of our favorite weddings of 2009- not just because it was absolutely gorgeous, but because the bride is a friend and industry peer. We were so flattered when Megan, who we had worked with all the time at Classic Party Rentals, asked us to coordinate her wedding. Not only did Megan have incredible rentals available to her, but she had an amazing vision and an all star vendor team, which equals a dream wedding for us. Just to warn you: there are going to be a ton of pictures in this post, so make sure you are comfy! (All photos by the wonderful Ryan Phillips)

Megan and Jason were married in downtown Los Angeles at the amazing church turned event venue, Vibiana.  The wedding style took from the classic feel of the venue and tied it in with a modern clean aesthetic to create what their florist, Carissa of JL Designs, coined as “Urban Antiquity”. With a color palette of white, espresso, chartreuse and steely aqua, vintage detailing of cameos and lace and amazing rentals (of course!), Megan and Jason’s wedding was completely stunning.

The couple had the unique opportunity to use fabric from their company’s inventory to use for all of the details of their wedding. From the bridesmaids dresses, to the groomsmen’s vests, hair clips for the flower girls, menu cards, cupcake stand and rosettes on the bride and groom’s chairs, the fabric pulled the wedding together in a beautifully cohesive way. The wedding party looked great!

My sister in law, Lindsey, made posy hair clips for the flower girls out of the matching fabric, as well as two large chair back rosettes for the bride and groom’s chairs, which you will see later.

I love this picture of Megan. As soon as she saw her Grandparents, she took of running down the street to see them. Just so sweet and joyful- which is exactly what Megan is!

The ceremony was absolutely stunning- simple and elegant.

The flowers were incredible- Carissa with JL Designs knocked it out of the park! From baby’s breath “poofs” down the aisle and on the tables, lush boxes of white blooms, gorgeous detailing on all vessels used and sweet bouquets, the floral design was impeccable. The best of Classic Party Rental’s lounge furniture was used, including mirrored side tables, white love seats and wooden benches and bars. We were also able to use chandeliers to add a touch of glamour to the cocktail hour space. These chandeliers also have a funny backstory – they were designed for “bennifer’s” wedding but never got used since the nuptials were called off! So, Megan and Jason put them to good use after all!

Darcie set up the escort card table with the cute escort card envelops, handwritten by the bride, with a stunning arrangement by Carissa in the center:

Good Gracious created a delicious menu and were open to Megan and Jason making their food choices their own. For the cocktail hour, they selected appetizers that represented different cities that they had visited together. Megan took shadow boxes and decorated the inside of them with pictures of one of the selected cities and then that shadowbox became a serving tray for a food item representing that city. For instance, the London box had fish and chips, the Chicago box had tiny Chicago hot dogs with chili cheese dip and the Paris box had little croque monsieur crepes.

During the cocktail hour, the catering team, florist’s team and our team turned over the ceremony space for the reception. Guests were delighted as they walked into the gorgeous reception space. Square and round tables were alternated throughout the space and Carissa mixed up the centerpieces as well- some had the tall babies breath balls on candlesticks and others had boxes packed with lush white flowers.

Megan and Jason actually made those cool menu cards themselves, using balsa wood and fabric. They made all of the wedding day paper goods and everything was adorable!

After a tasty dinner, guests were treated not only to delicious cupcake babies from Vanilla Bakeshop, but also a full dessert bar including mini cobblers, white chocolate creme brulee spoons and chocolate covered strawberries. As I shared in a previous post, Megan also surprised Jason with the most incredible grooms cake I have ever seen- a replica of the Staples Center with a Laker’s cake draped on top. It even had really lights around the outside of the stadium! Jason, a huge Lakers fan, loved it! The cake was featured on the TV show, “Amazing Wedding Cakes” as well.

Megan wanted to incorporate details in to remember her grandmother, so she wore her grandmother’s wedding band, used the cake topper from her grandparent’s wedding and even wore her nail polish color.

A few more reception details:

I loved that Megan and Jason worked hard at making the wedding their own. Their personalities and love for each other showed through and their day was absolutely lovely!

The Amazing Vendor Team:

Photography: Ryan Phillips

Cinematography: Todays the Day

Flowers: JL Designs

Venue: Vibiana

Rentals: Classic Party Rentals

Catering: Good Gracious!

Cake and Cupcakes: Vanilla Bake Shop

Grooms Cake: Merci Beau Coup

Invitations: Groom’s brother

Wedding day paper goods: DIY by bride & groom

Makeup: Flawless Faces

Hair: Jen Kausrud

Shoes: Seychelles

Dress: Customs Watters & Watters, The Dresser Fullerton

Flowergirl Hairclips and Chair Rosettes: The Pleated Poppy

Photobooth: Photoworks Interactive

DJ: Music on the Move

Officiant: Reverend Robert Stebe

Strings: Angelica Strings

Bridesmaid and flower girl dresses: custom made by a family friend

I am going to share my favorite first. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

I adore Keren and Pieter. They are both amazing individuals and their love for each other is completely evident if you spend even just one minute with them. Jasmine captured their personalities and love so well.

To see more of Keren & Pieter’s gorgeousness, check out Jasmine’s blog.

]]> http://joyfulweddingsandevents.com/blog/2010/03/23/keren-pieters-engagement-photos/feed/ 0 http://joyfulweddingsandevents.com/blog/2010/01/04/cute-bridal-shower-gift-alert/ http://joyfulweddingsandevents.com/blog/2010/01/04/cute-bridal-shower-gift-alert/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:00:42 +0000 courtney.toney http://joyfulweddingsandevents.com/blog/?p=1000 You’ve got your dream wedding dress, all pressed and ready to go, hanging in the window of your bridal suite, just waiting for it’s close up with your photographer and you have it hanging on: a dry cleaning or plastic hanger. Photographers will tell you how important it is to have your wedding gown hanging on a nice looking hanger- just a little, often overlooked detail that can make a big difference in the photos of your dress.

I came across these darling custom hangers on etsy:

How cool is that? You can have your name made into a hanger. They are a great momento as well and are reasonably priced at $17.50.

What a great gift this would be a for a bride-to-be! The artist (lilafrances) also makes smaller versions for kids- I have already purchased one for my son’s room and one for a baby gift. Love them!

Speaking of that, our guaranteed Christmas delivery cutoff for our Etsy shop is this Thursday, the 17th. If you want to purchase something after that date, please let me know and I can upgrade the shipping to priority mail to get it to you in time. We still have some great banners and super cute gift tags and bags for all of your Christmas gift wrapping- so make sure you stop by our shop!

Even if you live somewhere like me, where it does not snow and rarely dips below 70 degrees, you can still have a snow themed winter or holiday party. Back in the beginning of November, I saw such a lovely event featured on Style Me Pretty. It was styled by Hatch Creative Studio and is filled with wintery goodness. Here are some of my favorite shots, captured by Karen Mordechai:

I love the use of vintage snowshoes and sleds! And that snowman made out of carnations? Adorable! A little photo station with a homemade snowman cutout like this would be a really fun addition to a holiday party:

To see more, you can check out the posts on Style Me Pretty.

#3- Jennifer!

Jennifer, please let me know your email address so I can have Lindsey contact you and send you your petal pusher. Congrats!

But wait- everyone can be a winner! Lindsey  is offering 15% off in her shop this next week to all followers. Just enter the code FOLLOWER when you check out.

PrissyPiggies

faithworks4u

Anthropologie

Anthropologie

I die. If you have a little girl, I will live vicariously through you if you buy these items to dress her up for Christmas.

If you have not entered our Pleated Poppy giveaway, you have a couple more hours. I will pick a winner this afternoon. Happy thursday and happy shopping!

To make it even better, my sister in law Lindsey is giving away one of our banners! You could win one of these:

Go over to her blog and leave a comment.

She called me her baby sister-in-law, so I guess that makes her my much older sister-in-law  Seriously, though, Lindsey is super talented, creative and is a wonderful mom to my three cute as can be nieces and nephews. She crafts the cutest tea towels, posy pins, headbands for the little ones, bags, checkbook covers and more.

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**And- guess what?? To spread a little more cheer, she is giving away one of her petal pushers to our blog readers!** I have one and wear it all the time. In fact, you can spot it in our recent family photos by The Youngrens.

All you have to do is hop on over to Lindsey’s shop, and come back and tell me what item you would love to GIVE someone. Now, I know we all want her stuff for ourselves, but today is about giving

While I was typing this, my son decided to take off his clothes. It is a good day.

Since we got married over 4 years ago, there has always been some tension though. My husband has always wanted to decorate the tree with all of our childhood ornaments, while I want to go with a polished, pretty tree design (visions of the little mermaid, minnie mouse and other tacky treasure cramp my creative aesthetic). We’ve compromised in that 95% of the tree is pretty and he gets to put on a handful of his favorite wooden 80’s ornaments.

I have seen some adorable ornaments and tree themes recently and here are some of my favorites:

All of the above are from Anthropologie.

I love this simple leaf ornament from Lisa Leonard Designs. She can personalize it for you as well. (Note: orders need to be placed today in order to ensure Christmas delivery!)

I love vintage ball ornaments, especially ones in unexpected holiday colors like pink and blue.

Country Living

Etsy Seller funkeyfinds & Etsy Seller SauceForTheGoose

Country Living

Eddie Ross

I love this simple, monochromatic tree from Martha Stewart:

And this one, also from Martha, is a great option if you have little hands that like to take everything off the tree. All of the decor is paper:

I absolutely adore this tree, featured in Country Living. The galvanized tub stand is a great touch and I am in love with the idea of using tags with each family member’s name and photo as ornaments.

To finish, here are some more ornaments that I am fond of, all of which are still available for purchase:

Etsy sellers CarrotFever & elizabethwren

Personalized Silhouette Ornaments from etsy seller lepapierstudio

A living ornament? So cool! Terrarium ornaments from WarmCountryMeadows:

My favorite ornaments on my tree are frames. I love putting up little snapshots of Christmases past. Here are a couple of good options for frame ornaments:

Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel

I am a big fan of Paloma’s Nest. Her Christmas ornaments this year are simply beautiful. I purchased one and absolutely love it! (The photo on the right is my ornament adorning my tree). A great ornament option for newlyweds!

Happy tree decorating!

]]> http://joyfulweddingsandevents.com/blog/2009/12/07/joyful-joyful-6-put-the-lights-on-the-tree/feed/ 3 http://joyfulweddingsandevents.com/blog/2009/11/30/joyful-joyful-4-advent-calendars/ http://joyfulweddingsandevents.com/blog/2009/11/30/joyful-joyful-4-advent-calendars/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:45:31 +0000 courtney.toney http://joyfulweddingsandevents.com/blog/?p=567 Growing up, one of my favorite Christmas traditions was my family’s advent calendar. It was a big cloth banner hanging on the wall- each pocket held a mini candy cane. I loved grabbing the candy cane out of the pocket each day on my way to school. Last year, I bought materials to make one, but ran out of time. Guess what I am doing today and tomorrow?

I did some searching for creative ideas for advent calendars to give you some inspiration if you are making your own.

I love this simple but super cute hanging Advent Calendar from Etsy seller zfla:

I love this quilted advent calendar by Pink Chalk Studio that I found on Fickr:

I love the simplicity of this one, from etsy seller pilosale:

You can make a simple advent calendar without sewing as well. Here are a couple of DIY ideas, found on flikr:

A box advent calendar:

One made out of a hanging shoe organizer made by Whimsy Love: Great idea!

Another super fun idea found on esty- an advent calendar banner, made with little kraft paper envelopes:

A couple more cute options you can purchase on etsy:

Funky numbers Advent Calendar by prettyswank

Advent Christmas Trees by patchwink

A pretty tag advent calendar from Country Living:

How adorable is this babysock version from Martha Stewart:

A beautiful, classic wood option from Pottery Barn:

If you have an advent calendar, I’d love to hear what yours is like!

Also, I wanted to let you know that we have Christmas banners in our Etsy shop! I will be posting more in the next couple of days.